WhyItDropped

Nasdaq · November 28, 2000

Breaking down into year end

-5.05%

single-day change vs previous close

Part of a longer stretch

Nine months down without a rest

midway through · 2000-07-17 → 2001-04-04, -61.66% over the whole period

What happened that day?

  • The Nasdaq fell 5.05% on the day
  • Profit warnings from technology firms ran through November. It was a period of one a day, not one on this day
  • The election was still undecided. The two together left only reasons to sell
  • Individual investors were realising losses and leaving in numbers. To deduct a loss against tax for the year, the sale has to happen within it
  • Such selling comes out regardless of price, which is why November and December fell so hard
  • The index had halved from its March high by around this time

Sources

Every figure on this page is recomputed from the original daily closing prices and checked against them at build time. The account of what happened is written from the sources listed above.